0.26km Tube trip is most expensive on earth

Four quid for 43 seconds

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UK tabloid The Sun is today making merry at the expense of London's Tube system with a splendid exposé on the world's most expensive train journey.

It's not, as hackette Caroline Iggulden found out, a luxury excursion on the Orient Express, but rather a 43-second jaunt on the Piccadilly Line between Covent Garden and Leicester Square: 43 seconds covering 0.26km for a whopping £4.

That's 1.5 pence per metre, as the paper helpfully points out, easily topping the next most expensive short hop on the Tokyo Metro which comes in at £1.51. In New York, in contrast, "a subway ride costs £1.07, and in Rome just 67 pence and allows unlimited rides on tubes and buses for 75 minutes".

Of course, Iggulden paid the price for purchasing an old-school paper ticket, as opposed to using a pre-paid Oyster card. London mayor Ken Livingstone said: "There are now huge savings to be made by using Oyster. Many now cost half the same journey paid for by cash."

Which would make it just two quid, or thereabouts. By our reckoning, you can travel the same distance for less in a Learjet. ®